


Downton Abbey Movie Night

by robinfan2



Category: Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-07
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-28 12:36:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/674464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinfan2/pseuds/robinfan2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Red Robin knows how he wants to spend the rest of the evening. He has it all planned out - a warm shower, a light dinner, and then six hours of watching the second season of his favorite British TV program. But someone believes nobody - least of all, Tim - should be alone on a movie night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Other Than Unwell

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first venture at creative writing, using a character I really love. This is somewhat pre-52, except that Tim's wearing the Unternet uniform. Please note Red Robin and all other Batman characters are owned by DC comics.

### Chapter 1 - Other Than Unwell

Pure joy. He feels pure joy on this wonderful, spring night. The moon is shining brightly, the air is cool and crisp, and Batman had just called in, telling them to finish their patrol early. It’s quiet in Gotham and any petty crime being committed is quickly staunched by the GCPD. 

Red Robin can hardly contain his happiness. Finally! Finally he can go home early and have enough time to watch the _Downton Abbey_ season 2 DVD set he bought months ago.  Some six hours of witty British dialogue, award-winning script and - oh, who is he kidding? - her royal hotness, Lady Sybil! 

 

_But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell_

_I know right now you can’t tell_

_But stay awhile and maybe then you’ll see_

_A different side of me..._

He’s singing as he leaps from rooftop to rooftop, exhilarated with the feel of simulated flying. He doesn’t really feel unwell as the song suggests. It’s just the Matchbox Twenty song has been looping nonstop in his brain when he heard it blasting up from an alley early into his patrol. 

He’s happy though. That’s all that matters. He’s happy he’s on his way home early on this lovely, serious crime-free night.

“Hey, Red Robin! Wait up!”

Nightwing neatly drops on the rooftop where Tim aka Red Robin has taken a breather. _Hmm, strange... No fancy somersaults there!_

“I was trying to call you but you’ve shut off your commlink.” Nightwing or Dick sounds annoyed.

“Well, patrol’s over. No reason to keep it on. Why? Did Batman change his mind?” _Oh, please God, no!_

“Nope. Just wanting to catch up with you. Unless,” Dick cocks his head. “You have other plans?”

“Umm...” Now, Tim’s embarrassed. How do you tell Big Brother-slash-idol you’re itching to devote six hours of your time watching a TV series no red-blooded, medium-rare t-bone steak eating male would even spare a grunt on. “Kinda.”

“Anything special?”

“Not really.”

His brother is not the most patient of superheroes. “Dish!”

“Nightwing, it’s not really that interesting -”

“Dish,” his brother snarls.

Tim lifts his hands to placate Nightwing. “I’m just going home to watch Downton Abbey, alright?”

Dick is quiet for a moment. “Is that a slasher movie?”

“No. It’s a BBC television series that’s pretty popular right now in the States.”

“Like _Dr Who_?”

“Not really. It’s a period drama -”

“The _Tudors_?” Nightwing is getting smug. 

Tim is about to contradict but stops himself. “Close.” _By about four and a half centuries._ He better ends this now before the conversation gets weird. “So, I better get going -”

“Can I come with you?”

Now this is a surprise. Tim stares at his brother for a moment, trying to find out if he’s teasing him. It’s pretty hard with Nightwing, especially when it comes to practical jokes.

Nightwing sees him hesitate. “Hey, I’d like to hang with you. We haven’t done much bro-bonding lately.”

Tim thinks for a while and nods. “OK. I think I have a few Quentin Tarantino flicks -”

“No. You’re lusting for Downtown Alley -”

“Downton Abbey.”

“Downton Abbey. Then we watch Downton Abbey. No need to change your movie night on my account.”

“It’s not a movie -”

“You get my drift!”

Tim sighs. “But I gotta warn you. It might bore you out of your socks if you’re not into it.”

Nightwing’s face cracks into a wide smile. “Race you?”

“Sure.”


	2. Never let a Matter of Convenience Stand in the Way of a Principle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems Nightwing has better things to do than sit through Downton Abbey. Pity, the Dowager Countess of Grantham might say.

Nightwing is right at his heels. He can feel him. He hopes his brother notices how his rooftop flying techniques have improved. He knows how dorky it must be to seek one’s brother’s approval but, hey, he got into this superhero gig because of Dick. 

Tim also looks forward to showing off his new place to Nightwing. Tim bought a two-bedroom penthouse apartment in a quiet part of Gotham sometime ago and has just finished fixing up the place. No one in his family has seen it yet and Tim would like him to look it over.

It takes him three more rooftops when he notices Nightwing is no longer following him. Instinct tells him to double back. His brother might be in trouble.

He finds Nightwing atop a fifteen-story building. Tim fires off his grapple and swings to the rooftop. Dick motions for him to stay where he is. His brother seems to be in a discussion with someone through the commlink. Tim lifts his hand to activate his own when Nightwing shakes his head, telling him to keep his commlink turned off.

“Anything the matter?”

“That’s Batman,” Nightwing answers. “I’m needed at the Batcave.”

“Oh.” _Now that’s a bummer!_ “Need help?”

“No. Nothing we can’t handle. You just run along home. No need to tune in. You deserve the break.”

“You sure?” Tim can hardly hide the disappointment in his voice. He did look forward for some brotherly bonding with Dick. It’s such a long time since they did something together other than crimefighting or solving cases.

“Sure, sure. Raincheck?”

“No worries.” Tim gives Dick a fist bump. “See you around!” And he leaps off. For some reason, he doesn’t feel like singing anymore.

***

“Shit! You dumped him.”

“I did not dump him.”

“Yes, you moron! You invited yourself and then you royally ditched him.”

“This is not my fault!” Nightwing hisses over the commlink. “You know the drill – Batman calls, you go. It’s that simple.”

“You’re dumping him because Batman says you need to be on standby in case Demon Bat goes nuclear during a sleepover? What kind of fucking lame excuse is that?”

“Damian’s friend, Colin, is a civilian and first rule of superheroism is –“

“Oh, don’t give me that crap! Tell me you didn’t change your mind right after Oracle told you what _Downton’s_ about. You were looking for an excuse to extricate yourself and Batman gave it to you on a silver, ass-lined platter!”

“That’s not fair! I had no idea what you were getting me in for –“

“Fuck you both nostrils from here to Sunday! You told me yesterday you owe Red Robin a chunk of brotherly bonding time after all the help he had given you. Even after you fired him as Robin – “

“I did not fire him –“

“You SO totally did but we’re digressing. You said – and I did not instigate this – when the opportunity presents itself you will spend some time with Baby Bird doing stuff he likes.”

“OK, so I did say –“

“And when Batman gives us the rest of the night off, you saw your lucky chance.” The man on the other end of the commlink takes a deep breath before continuing his rant. “You alone made that decision to have a movie night at his apartment. You invited yourself without any pressure from me or anybody else!”

“Yes, but…” Nightwing feels a migraine coming on. “Look, I did say I wanted to join him in whatever he’s watching tonight. But duty calls. That trumps any other interests we may have including Tim’s.”

“What at load of bullsh-“

Nightwing hastily changes the frequency on his commlink. He swears he’d  just lost some hearing in that ear in the last thirty seconds.

***

“Shit! He just hung up on me!” Jason Todd’s swearing booms through the commlink’s network. Oracle, Blackbat and others still connected to his frequency wince.

“Calm down, Jason.” Barbara Gordon aka Oracle tries to sooth the Red Hood. “You know how hard it is for Dick to sit still for any period movie - let alone a TV series - that does not show at least one decapitation.”

“I’ll have him hanged, drawn and quartered if that’s what it takes to knock sense into him,” Jason growls. “Goldie invited himself over, got the kid all worked up, then dumped him. The motherfucker ditched the kid!”

“Red Robin understands. He says OK,” Blackbat, who is Cassandra Cain out of uniform, chirps through her commlink.

“Red Robin ALWAYS understands! Red Robin ALWAYS gives way. Red Robin is ALWAYS the mature one. That’s why Red Robin ALWAYS gets his teeth kicked in by Goldie, Demon Brat and the big, bad Bat!”

“Oh, c’mon, Hood! That’s harsh!” Babs scolds him, half-heartedly because she agrees with him. _But then, they’re on commlink._ She removes her eyeglasses and begins massaging her temples. “Nightwing gets difficult when he gets bored. He’s actually doing Red Robin a favour.”

“I don’t believe this! Are you saying it’s justifiable for Nightwing to ditch because he might get bored? This is not about Nightwing, may I remind you, O wise Oracle!”

“No need to get sarcastic, Hood!” Oracle snaps. “Besides as Blackbat noticed, Red Robin didn’t seem to mind.”

“The kid always says things like that,” Jason sighs, impatiently. “You know how he is. He hates being a bother; to impose his needs. I think he’s become more withdrawn since he stopped being Robin.” He sighs again. He’s been doing a lot of sighing lately. “Anyway, during a particularly damp stakeout Red Robin mentioned to me he once went train surfing with Nightwing - with blindfolds.”

“Good God!”

“Yep. Red Robin thought he’d die that day. But he also said it was one of his most cherished adventures.” Jason also remembers the look on Tim’s face when the boy told him, _That was a long, long time ago though. When I was a few months into Robin. I guess I’m already too grown up for that stuff, eh?_ “The kid misses his big brother, O. ”

“Red Robin helps in cases,” Cass reminds them. “We see Red Robin a lot.”

“But that’s different from spending real, quality time. Those two used to have legendary fun times together. They don’t seem to have any of those anymore. I felt so bad for him I laid the guilt trip onto Nightwing yesterday.”

“Be as it may, Hood, why do you even care? That's between Nightwing and the kid.”

“Oracle,” Jason says, softly. “Red Robin is also my brother.”

There is brief silence. Just when they think Red Hood has gone offline, they hear him sighing deeply.

“It’s up to me then,” he says, grimly.

“Hood,” Oracle warns. “Don’t do anything foolish...”

“O, if what you said about _Downton Abbey_ is true, then nobody - and I mean nobody - should be made to watch it alone. Especially, not Tim.”

“We’re on commlink...”

“It is far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known,” Red Hood declares with flourish. “Caution be damned!” And his commlink goes dead.

“Damn! He just went Dickens!” Oracle swears.


End file.
